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“What?! Why didn’t anyone call me?” Emma asked, her voice high and frantic.
The last thing Samantha wanted was to upset her mom. “Because I’m fine. I just hadn’t eaten and my blood pressure dropped. It was that and stress, which is why Dex insisted we get away.”
“I like that man,” her mother said.
Samantha felt her cheeks heat. “I do, too, Mom. But there was a time I liked Jeremy, too.”
“Do you really think Dex is anything like your ex-fiancé?”
She immediately shook her head. “But it’s so soon after the almost-wedding. Which I am so sorry for. I shouldn’t have let things get that far, Mom. It cost you—”
“Stop. Better before than after the wedding, or after you’ve stayed so long you set a bad example for your children, or waste your younger years with the wrong man.” Emma blinked back the tears in her eyes.
“Oh, Mom. You didn’t set a bad example for us. If anything, you showed us strength of character. Loyalty. I admire you so much.”
“And I admire you. You’re a smart businesswoman and you think before you jump. Which is why you won’t fully commit to your feelings for Dex. And that’s okay. Take your time. If he’s the right one, he’ll wait.”
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear.” Samantha hugged her mom tight before sitting back in her seat and taking her first sip of the tart but refreshing drink.
Her mother did the same. “Now, what do you say about me inviting the family over for an impromptu dinner? I’ll order in and we’ll all get together.”
“I’d love that.”
“Great! Then let’s start making phone calls.”
And just like that, she put her concerns away for the night and focused on having a good time with the family she loved.
***
Dex spent a good amount of time talking to Emma’s husband, Michael, who owned an insurance company downtown. He was a smart man and from what Dex could sense, a decent one who, though he’d only been married to Emma for a handful of years, cared about her children.
The backyard was huge, with large ceramic pots, a cactus planted in each, all surrounding the outer perimeter of the property in front of the screen that protected the pool.
They were mid-deep in conversation about this year’s Thunder players when Dex’s cell rang. “Excuse me,” he said, pulling the phone from his pocket and taking the call from Austin.
“Hello?” Dex asked.
“Where are you?” His agent spoke without preamble.
Dex smiled at Michael before replying. “Hello to you too. And I just so happen to be in Miami.”
“With Samantha.”
“Yes.” He had no intention of lying or hiding the fact that he cared about her and would be by her side for as long as she needed him.
Austin let out a host of expletives. “You don’t listen, do you?”
Shaking his head, Dex asked, “Why should I? I’m single, she’s single, this whole it’s unseemly thing is a crock of shit and you know it.”
“I do but that doesn’t matter. Jeremy Rollins is doing interviews that make Samantha sound like a cheating whore and you like a home-wrecking asshole, and the reason for his called-off wedding. Peter Morgan called and wants to know why his newest analyst is getting bad press,” he said of the president of FSN. How’s Samantha?” he asked, changing the subject, and Dex knew it was a temporary reprieve.
“Shaky. She fainted yesterday and was in the hospital. I took her to Florida because I need to check in on my house, but mostly because I wanted her to spend time with her family.”
Austin let out a long breath, followed by a curse. “You love her.”
Dex glanced at Michael and pushed himself up from his chair, stepping away to take the call in private. “Is this my agent asking?”
“No. I’m asking as Samantha’s cousin and your friend.”
